The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Director Buys $42,690.60 in Stock

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) Director Frederick D. Disanto purchased 1,923 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $22.20 per share, for a total transaction of $42,690.60. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 75,046 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,666,021.20. The trade was a 2.63% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Eastern Stock Up 6.2%

EML stock traded up $1.38 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $23.58. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,501. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.64 and a quick ratio of 1.42. The Eastern Company has a twelve month low of $19.06 and a twelve month high of $35.03. The company's fifty day moving average price is $22.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $144.95 million, a P/E ratio of -22.89 and a beta of 1.08.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by ($0.10). Eastern had a negative net margin of 2.26% and a positive return on equity of 10.44%. The firm had revenue of $63.31 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.33 million.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Eastern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -33.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of EML. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern in the 1st quarter valued at about $591,000. Citadel Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern in the 4th quarter valued at about $340,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Eastern by 165.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 19,221 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 11,974 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Eastern by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 256,278 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,802,000 after acquiring an additional 9,524 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Eastern by 43.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 20,533 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $520,000 after acquiring an additional 6,219 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 76.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Eastern from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th.

Eastern Company Profile

The Eastern Company designs, manufactures, and sells engineered solutions to industrial markets in the United States and internationally. The company offers turnkey returnable packaging solutions, which are used in the assembly processes of vehicles, aircraft, and durable goods, as well as in production processes of plastic packaging products, packaged consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals; designs and manufactures blow mold tools and injection blow mold tooling products, and 2-step stretch blow molds and related components for the stretch blow molding industry; and supplies blow molds and change parts to the food, beverage, healthcare, and chemical industries.